Cricket is a shared love of the people of South Asia but we share much more than cricket. I say this on my return from a conference of the South Asian Health Foundation, a UK charitable organisation that seeks to improve the health of the South Asian community. It is an organisation that I am fond of, and not just because I am one of the patrons. Each gathering includes many representatives of all South Asian nations and religions, yet we are never divided by nationality or religion. Instead, we stand united in seeking a better life for people who share our background.
This easy unity fills me with hope that even this horrendous week cannot destroy what the people of South Asia share, for what we have in common far outweighs our differences. Outside the fevered atmosphere of South Asia, the passion that surrounds those differences seems nonsensical and horribly misguided. Indeed, all South Asian nations are now victims of barbaric violence. We fight a common enemy: the murderers who seek to divide us.
What has cricket to do with this? Everything. Cricket, as my friend Saad Shafqat once wrote, is the magic glue that binds South Asia. It is a shared passion and pleasure in a region that is consumed by an overwhelming misery. Cricket has helped intitiate dialogue and collaboration on previous occasions when war was looming–and we must cling to every prospect of dialogue and collaboration because a conflict between nuclear neighbours brings the dread of unthinkable consequences.
Hence, I add my voice to the passion of Javed Miandad and the wisdom of Sambit Bal. India’s upcoming tour of Pakistan, far from being an irrelevance, is fundamental to the dialogue and collaboration that will defeat those who seek to plunge the region into a devastating conflict.
The tour should go ahead. United we stand, divided we are lost.
Almost all Indians disagree with him on his blog. And almost all Indians on GS would be happy if the tour is canceled and terrorists turn out to be from Pakistan. We are talking about friendship and cricket when India is talking about attacking Pakistan and blaming Pakistan without solid proof. (and no what's circulating in the media is not proof.) So the hell with cricket...
In my opion two wrong dont make a right. There are several ways to react to all the accusations India is making but stop playing cricket with them should not be the way. Cricket and politics should be kept separate. There can be situations when they can't be kept separate and in my view this situation is not the one.
It's not like India has done this for the first time. They do it most of time whenever something happens and there have been times when both the teams still continued to play cricket. If we have played with them in the past then we can't we play with them now when we need this tour badly?
The remotest possibility of any non-asian side touring Pakistan in the future will die with the cancellation of Indian tour. If I am not mistaken ICC will be using the Indian tour as a bench mark to decide on the future of cricket events in Pakistan.
India might cancel the tour but PCB has every right to make efforts to avoid this cancellation. If not for the reasons Kamran Abbasi or Sambit Bal has stated, then atleast for the survivial of cricket in Pakistan.
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pak will never get thw treatment or consideration india is getting after the current fiasco. to think that non-asian sides will welcome the indian tour of pak and preceive it as a positive sign of things getting better in pak is just day-dreaming and nothing else. here in case of india westerns were a clear target and still eng tour is almost ready to resume in few days. lets face the reality. no cricket team wants to tour pak, some for obvious reasons, those for reasons only known to themselves. period.
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pak will never get thw treatment or consideration india is getting after the current fiasco..
I never said that. I said that there is a remote possiblity of non-asian sides of touring Pakistan in future and even that would die if India cancels the tour.
They will tell Pakistan that when India is not willing to tour Pakistan then howcome Pakistan can expect non-asian sides to tour the country.
I never said that. I said that there is a remote possiblity of non-asian sides of touring Pakistan in future and even that would die if India cancels the tour.
They will tell Pakistan that when India is not willing to tour Pakistan then howcome Pakistan can expect non-asian sides to tour the country.
didn't india , SL and BD toured pak for asia cup in june/july? that still didn't stop other countries from not coming to pak for champions trophy...and i also remember BCCI supporting PCB for ICCCT but that didn't help either. so what make you think that even if the indian tour of pak went ahead as planned, it will convince other countries that pak is a safe place now. all you need is 1 bomb going off in some major city of pak and it will be back to sQuare 1 for pak and PCB.
didn't india , SL and BD toured pak for asia cup in june/july? that still didn't stop other countries from not coming to pak for champions trophy...and i also remember BCCI supporting PCB for ICCCT but that didn't help either. so what make you think that even if the indian tour of pak went ahead as planned, it will convince other countries that pak is a safe place now. all you need is 1 bomb going off in some major city of pak and it will be back to sQuare 1 for pak and PCB.
aray meray bhai, I said remote possibility that means IF there was a slight chance in future.
I don't believe we have done a poll, whether or not it is a good idea. Should we do the poll, stick it and maybe merge this or another relevant thread with the poll thread for more discussions?
aray meray bhai, I said remote possibility that means IF there was a slight chance in future.
I agree with Saieen on this one...there isnt even a remote possibility anymore. Especially after the successfull Asia Cup right before the Champions Trophy...and even with the support of BCCI...teams still refused to come...including SA, who did a tour of Pakistan and were the last non-asian team to tour Pakistan I believe... and everything went OK without any unwanted incident.
Pefect example, like Saieen stated before...the huge attack on Mumbai...where clearly foreigners were the targets...with terrorists killing or taking hostage anyone with a British or US passport...England team is ready to play cricket in India again after a few days...this is complete bull**** and double standards.
Even if no bombs explode in Pakistan over the next year...the same British losers will complain about security fears and won't tour Pakistan.
its not about the test series…i’m sure eng players won’t give a damn about these tests…its all about the bigger picture..much bigger picture…which is…IPL…my friend..thats where terrorists have failed to scare this team off. money is the biggest BOMB you’ll ever see n eng team is in love with that bomb. had they won 20m at stanford, thing could have been different.
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England opening batsman Andrew Strauss has said he and his team-mates are ready to play their two-Test series in India because of a “duty to the game”.
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“We travel round the world all the time, we often go to places that have had problems in the past and we put our faith in the security experts to tell us where is safe to travel and where isn’t and I don’t see why this should be any different.”
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duty my khota:halo: these morons are just paving their way for IPL money.
for record…just look at the postponed SL tour of eng, all because of…? … IPL ofcourse. this clearly shows where the loyalties lies for these players n eng players are no different.
its not about the test series...i'm sure eng players won't give a damn about these tests...its all about the bigger picture..much bigger picture...which is...IPL...my friend..thats where terrorists have failed to scare this team off. money is the biggest BOMB you'll ever see n eng team is in love with that bomb. had they won 20m at stanford, thing could have been different.
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I'll agree with you on the double standards and IPL.
Anyway lets stick to the main topic here, which is India tour of Pakistan and should be making all the efforts to maki it possible?
I believe that if England's current tour of India goes ahead and considering the speculation that India does not visit Pakistan because of security issues, we (Pakistan) may as well say good-bye to hosting any share of matches for the World Cup. If India does not tour, there will be far more repercussions for Pakistan in the long-term than just Champions Trophy.
Really one canceled series right now will be all to put Pakistan far, far away from International cricket.